"In the last two weeks we didn't play well when we needed to," said the Serbia international. "It's out of our hands now but we still hope.

"We must remember we have won the title in the last three years and been in the Champions League final twice. So we have had success. But to win the title four times in a row was always going to be difficult. We always knew that.

"This is life. You cannot win all the trophies all the time. You cannot be on the top every year. Even though we want to and have pushed very hard, sometimes you need to be strong, take those bad moments and learn from them."